Weekly recap (1/9-1/15): Pivot, pivot, pivot

It's really turning into a comedy of errors over here. And it's also starting to get a little embarrassing having one issue after another after another. Of course, I didn't expect to magically be well when the year turned from 2016 to 2017, but man, I could use a break!

I got some workouts in, but again, nothing spectacular. Per usual.

Workout summary

Monday: Barre

Tuesday: Easy run - 4.09 miles (9:03 pace)

Wednesday: Off

Thursday: Off

Friday: Barre

Saturday: Charleston Marathon Shrimp & Grits 5K (walked first 2 miles with my husband, ran the last 1.1 with the stroller)

In the interest of brevity (and because I'm sick of writing at length about being sick and exhausted), here's this week's rundown:

B got sick early in the week with a cold/fever/ear infection and he had to stay home from daycare for a few days. D was out of town, so I was on my own with a sick toddler, full-time job, a healing dog (and the shuffling of three other dogs that goes along with that during meal times and when they want to go outside), and several other things that needed to get done.

Tuesday I went to get my weekly allergy shots (you know, the ones that are supposed to make me better). About 2.5 hours after the shot, I started having a systemic allergic reaction (anaphylaxis). My entire torso, neck, and face were totally covered in hives (completely - no normal skin in sight) and I could see them moving down my legs. And my throat started to close. So at 7 p.m. (my son's bedtime), I hauled my sick toddler and myself to the ER by myself (see point 1: husband out of town). The doctors marked my reaction as "severe" and shot me with epinephrine, steroids, Benadryl, and something else. Awesome.

B gave me his illness (which was probably one of the reasons why I had the allergic reaction, according to my allergist). I ended up with (yet another) sinus infection plus a nasty cough and cold, and the asthma fun that goes a long with that.

Sunday I had major GI issues. The kind where you are unable to leave general proximity of the bathroom for several hours.

And that was my week in a nutshell. Good. Times.

I had the hilarious (and probably terribly misguided) idea that I may actually be able to start training for another half marathon sometime soon. So I had one tentatively on my calendar. After this week, I scratched that sucker right off. I can barely put one foot in front of the other right now. I have no business training for a half marathon.

This is exhausting. I'm endlessly exhausted. I feel like I'll never feel like myself again, in running or life. My husband is out of town just about every week for work and that doesn't help my exhaustion levels, either (in fact, I think it was one of the contributing factors for how things got so bad with my health to begin with). There's no real end to that song and dance, either, so I have to figure out how to get better while still being exhausted (is that possible?). (Note: I'm grateful for his job and I'm glad he has it, but it is no joke being the spouse who holds everything down at home week after week and still works a full-time job.) I hope there's a light somewhere out there, but I don't see it right now. And I'm tired of writing about it (and I'm tired of living it).

So here's how I plan to deal with this:

Resting. Resting whenever I damn well feel like it. Because I'm sick and tired. I'm not lazy. I'm not a loser. I'm not refusing to put in the work. I'm sick. I may not look sick or sound sick or seem sick, but I am. And I'll try not to feel guilty about it.

Running races for fun and with the stroller whenever I can. D, B and I did the Charleston Marathon Shrimp & Grits 5K on Saturday and walked most of it. There's no point in being obsessed over my time when there's zero chance I'll be seeing PRs or any decent times in the near future.

Writing about things other than my weekly workouts on this blog. It's become extraordinarily depressing to practically write the same thing week after week. So I'm working on some new blog post ideas. Some I've wanted to do for a while, some are new. But it's not just the same weekly recap and race reports anymore ("Well, I had another asthma attack/was sick, but I'm an idiot and went out and "raced," only to log a terrible time").

I have some sliver of hope that things might start to get better, but I know it's not a quick fix. For someone like me, who likes to go, go, go with workouts (two a day if I can), this is tough. But I can't run myself into the ground and expect to get better. In the meantime, I'll find ways to pivot (and try not to get dizzy in the process).